A fresh look at an ill-fated 17th-century uprising that haunts the English West Country – and may hold lessons for the world today – is taking place close to the spot where many of the rebels were condemned to death.
An exhibition at the Museum of Somerset tells the story of the Monmouth rebellion, which ended with defeat for the rebels who fought alongside the charismatic Duke of Monmouth, with many condemned to death at the notorious Bloody Assizes led by lord chancellor George Jeffreys.
Tom Mayberry, who co-curated the exhibition, said the 1685 revolt, also known as the Pitchfork Rebellion, may have been forgotten by many people in the UK but still had a deep resonance in Somerset.
He said: “The rebellion remains vividly imprinted on the minds of West Country people as a defining event in the history of the region. It made such an impact because the consequences of the rebellion were so cruel. The rebels were utterly motivated by principle and religion and were met with a tidal wave of violence.”
The setting for the exhibition is poignant as the museum is housed in Taunton Castle, one of the sites of the Bloody Assizes, where rebels were told they were to be hanged, drawn and quartered.
Jeffreys, the judge at the trials, is certainly not forgotten here. When two years ago an information board of Taunton’s history was placed in the town, someone scratched out Jeffreys’ eyes and inscribed the word “bastard” next to the image.
“It showed that this defining event in West Country history has not been forgotten,” said Mayberry. “In the light of modern events, one is forcibly reminded that some of the triggers to rebellion and to conflict 340 years ago are the very same ones which we are now rediscovering today – how charming and persuasive leaders can lead us to disaster, how societies divide according to religion and ideology, and how it’s really the luck of the draw whether they find a way through to reconciliation.”
The rebellion came 34 years after the end of the English civil war and three years before the “Glorious Revolution”. It was a failed attempt by dissident Protestants led by James Scott, the first duke of Monmouth, to depose the Catholic king James II.
At the centre of the exhibition, called After Sedgemoor: Remembering the Monmouth Rebellion, are two paintings loaned by the Tate and Manchester Art Gallery.
Edgar Bundy’s The Morning of Sedgemoor (1905) shows rebels sheltering in a barn after the Battle of Sedgemoor, while John Pettie’s The Duke of Monmouth’s Interview with James II (c1882) captures the rebel leader vainly pleading for his life.
Also on display is an ostrich plume reputedly worn by Monmouth at the battle and 200 musket balls recently found at the site.
Documents being exhibited include an order by a royalist commander that a mound should be built over the dead who lay shallowly buried on the battlefield.
Sam Astill, the chief executive of South West Heritage Trust, which operates the Museum of Somerset, said: “The rebellion has a fundamental place in the story of Somerset, and the events that followed it have never been forgotten. There couldn’t be a better setting for the exhibition than Taunton Castle, which still echoes with the events of 340 years ago.”
The exhibition runs from 29 March to 6 July 2025
